Windows

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XP shutdown (doesn't complete)

Hi,I have XP Pro on two different computers (each has its own original CD) and both sometimes perhaps 1 out of 10 shutdowns won't shutdown completely and turn off everything within the tower. You can hear the tower click but the neon lights within and fan still work within. The other computer does the same (Except the neon lights as it lacks that). Pressing the reset button automatically shuts it completely down instead of rebooting. Holding the power button definitely shuts it down. It just states that Windows is shutting down (beyond logging off screen). This is pretty much the screen where it is okay to manually shutdown if necessary. Any ideas on why this could be happening?

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Make sure that you have WinXP SP1 installed and all other updates applied from the Microsoft Critical/Driver update web location using your Windows Update.

Then (not sure of the build date and manufacturer of your PC) check for any mainboard component updates and BIOS(carefully using the appropiate "FlashBIOS" utility for that mainboard) updates that may be needed by your system(s) and, if there are any, download and install them. This should update your device driver database of your mainboard(motherboard) system service components. This, usually, is the cause of the shutdown "hang" problem.

The one computer uses an ASUS board while the other uses an A-bit (I believe that is the spelling) board. An update was done on the A-bit board about a year ago to allow for the 2Ghz processor. An update has not been done since. All Win updates have been installed. At first I felt that it is just a WinXP issue that Microsoft has not resolved yet but I'm curious of a possible solution.

Nope, I don't have Norton or Mcafee. I can't stand those two. Resource hogs. I use E-trust which runs with very low resources. I could always test out by closing everything and shutdown. Perhaps there is a timeout session that I could increse to give more time for XP to shutdown. I came across something like this before but can't seem to find it now. Does anyone know of this? That might solve this problem. If anyone has XP (Home or Pro) does it shutdown properly for you each and every time?Thanks

This computer is only a year old and has a new motherboard which is probably a month old now. Has been cleaned up within. Its not enclosed in a cabinet. The stand it is on has quite an opening for proper air flow. The location I am at is not that warm at least not yet (I'm in Canada). I've many seen this problem with Win98 but that's a known issue. The only time I ever heard this problem other than with my own PCs is when I worked for Compaq. A few (perhaps around five clients) had a Compaq that didn't shutdown completely. I ended up telling them that it is a Microsoft issue that they haven't solved yet. There is an article there that says that you need to update your Windows Updates to correct this but that isn't completely true as all the updates are installed.

I've had a few issues with this kind of thing in the past, although not quite the problem you describe.

Its sounds like you machines could be old(ish). One thing that solved my problems was a trip into control panel, then power management. When you open this you may see 5 tabs appear. One of these teabs is labled APM (Advanced Power Management). Toggle this setting, my old machine needs this enabled for the machine to shutdown properly.

My new machine does not have the APM tab, new machines use something else (i think ACPI). I reckon the issue you are facing is likely to be power management.

An alternative is the presence of a virus. I'm sure you are likely to have a virus scanner installed, just ensure that it is totally up to date and then do a re-scan.

The first computer is probably 3 years old and runs XP Pro on a 1Ghz Pentium processor. 512 Ram. I left it behind for my folks to use. Its an Asus. The equipment inside is pretty much top notch at its time. For CD use it uses a 4x CDRW burner from Hewlett Packard. Nothing fancy but gets them by.

This computer is only a year old and has a new motherboard which is probably a month old now. Runs on an Abit using a 2Ghz AMD processor. 512 Ram. It uses a 4x CD burner from Hewlett Packard. Older than the previous but does the trick (for now). And a Creative Labs 6x DVD player which we send signal to the TV when we place DVDs. (that was before I won a DVD player at work). This computer has two Maxtor drives both 60gig. The only thing wrong with this computer is that it doesn't shut down 1/10th of the time completely. But again if you press the Reset Button with a popsicle stick (which we have handy) then it completely shuts down.

The programs running on this AMD computer are: Adaware's Adwatch, Etrust Antivirus, No Ads for popup control (With preference options, seems to do what I need), Hypersnap and Clipomatic (as I do copy/paste and snapshot way too often to flip among documents). I have tried shutting down 3 programs at a time to determine where this problem could be but it doesn't seem to matter.

Does anyone know of a way to increase the wait time for Windows to shutdown for me to try. It could be that the computer just needs some more shutdown time.

I think it is 1 of 2 things that is happening. 1st. one is your cd burning software Adaptec EZ-CD creator? or Roxio EZ-CD Creator? up until the ltest realease they need to run in compatability mode as they are not signed to run on WinXP the other is if they were installed and then uninstalled in favor of WinXP's burner software it can leave little turd behind in the .dll's just like some Norton Products. I have seen the same problem occur when using Creative SB live Value cards and the software that comes with them. the software is only good thru Win2K works in Compatability mode or they have an update that is supposed to work but add's more audio players to a system that may already have a couple EXAMPLE: realOne Win. Media Player WinAmp. The 2nd. is if you have your PC set to auto update. I have had simular problems with my Athlon Thunderbird 1200 if you do a fresh install it will work okay again until the auto updates, or software is added. I have recently REINSTALLED XP and none of the adaptec software or the Creative SB live software. (I am using the newest release of Roxio EZ-CD Creator ver 6.1 without problem.) and have not let any auto update thru to the system and am waiting for a windows critical patch CD-Rom to come from Microsoft. Check the MS web site for the Security CD and order it.

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